Slain LTTE chief Velupillai Prabhakarans parents are living in a newly set up welfare camp in Vavuniya,together with the relatives of other rebel leaders killed in the war,Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa has revealed. During the Cabinet meeting on Wednesday night,the President disclosed that Prabhakarans parents,Velupillai (76) and Parvathi (71),are living in the camp for the Internally Displaced Persons in Vavuniya,officials said. Prabhakarans relatives are with the relatives of other LTTE leaders and their condition seems to be much better than the ordinary Tamil IDPs who look emaciated and starved, Information Minister Lakshman Yapa Abeywardene told reporters on Thursday. His remarks came as The Island newspaper reported that Prabhakarans parents were in the protective custody of the Lankan Government. Quoting a senior Government spokesman,it said that they had surrendered to the Army after reaching the Army lines several days ago. The spokesman said they had been among civilians holed up in the no-fire zone on the Mullaitivu coast before the Army launched the final assault,the paper reported. Velupillai and Parvathi were among the early batch of Sri Lankan Tamils to go to India,where they settled in Tiruchi in Tamil Nadu before returning to Wanni in 2003,the report said. Prabhakarans parents returned to Wanni in May 2003 after Norway brokered ceasefire between the then Ranil Wickremesinghe Government and the LTTE,the paper said. They had been accompanied by their Canada-based daughter Vinodhini and her husband Rajendran,it said.
